Merkadeau Stuart L: insider trades

Officer at Formfactor Inc. No open-market purchases and 20 sales not made under a pre-set plan, reported from February 7, 2011 to May 8, 2015.

What happened after Merkadeau Stuart L’s sales?

After their sales, the shares moved −14.3% against the index over 12 months on average (a negative figure means selling was the right call); 75% trailed it.

With 296 insiders tested, some will look skilled or unskilled by chance alone: when we replaced each insider’s stocks with random companies bought on the same days, about 5.7 cleared the bar ahead and 23.3 behind. One record on its own proves little.

Trade by trade

Merkadeau Stuart L: trades against the S&P 500 afterwards
Measured	Trades counted	Average vs S&P 500	Median	Went the right way	Years	t-statistic	p-value	Evidence
Purchases, 3 months after the report	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 6 months after the report	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the report	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not enough years
Purchases, 12 months after the trade	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not enough years
Sales, 3 months after the report	20	−5.1%	−4.8%	70%	5	−1.92	0.13	No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the report	20	−14.3%	−15.5%	75%	5	−1.74	0.16	No reliable evidence
Sales, 12 months after the trade	19	−15.0%	−16.4%	79%	5	−1.74	0.16	No reliable evidence

“Average vs S&P 500” is the stock’s return including dividends minus the index’s over the same dates, from the close on the first trading day after the report, or from the close on the trade date. Only windows that have finished are counted. For sales, a negative figure means the stock lagged after it was sold, so selling was the right call (green). “Went the right way” is the share of purchases that beat the index, or of sales that trailed it. The t-statistic uses one average per year of reports, because one person’s trades bunch into the same stock and weeks, and needs trades in at least four different years; the p-value comes from the t distribution with that number of years (with four years, a t of 2 has p = 0.14). “Some evidence” means p under 5%, “strong evidence” p under 1% over at least six years.

Companies traded

Company	Title on the latest filing	Purchases	Sales	First report	Latest report
Formfactor Inc FORM	SR VP GENERAL COUNSEL	0	20	February 7, 2011	May 8, 2015

Trades and what followed

Moves are against the S&P 500; green means the trade went the insider’s way.

Reported	Traded	Company	Trade	Value	3 months after report	12 months after report	12 months after trade
May 8, 2015	May 7, 2015	FORM	Sale	$26,355	−15.8%	−17.9%	−18.8%
May 7, 2015	May 6, 2015	FORM	Sale	$31,515	−16.8%	−16.2%	−18.6%
May 6, 2015	May 5, 2015	FORM	Sale	$77,986	−17.7%	−18.8%	−16.3%
March 3, 2015	March 2, 2015	FORM	Sale	$99,170	−1.8%	−13.8%	−19.9%
February 12, 2015	February 11, 2015	FORM	Sale	$25,270	+4.2%	−14.7%	−15.5%
November 10, 2014	November 7, 2014	FORM	Sale	$66,984	−6.7%	−7.7%	−3.6%
August 18, 2014	August 14, 2014	FORM	Sale	$52,779	+10.4%	−20.1%	−12.0%
May 12, 2014	May 9, 2014	FORM	Sale	$62,954	+12.5%	+35.2%	+36.4%
May 8, 2014	May 7, 2014	FORM	Sale	$38,671	+17.2%	+36.4%	+29.1%
February 28, 2014	February 28, 2014	FORM	Sale	$34,995	−4.3%	+15.4%	+27.9%
February 12, 2014	February 11, 2014	FORM	Sale	$19,261	−20.1%	+13.1%	+15.2%
August 12, 2013	August 12, 2013	FORM	Sale	$60,113	−24.2%	−12.8%	−13.6%
May 8, 2013	May 7, 2013	FORM	Sale	$16,037	+24.8%	−5.7%	−3.6%
February 13, 2013	February 12, 2013	FORM	Sale	$14,397	−1.8%	+5.8%	not yet
May 9, 2012	May 9, 2012	FORM	Sale	$17,286	−16.8%	−41.6%	−38.5%
May 8, 2012	May 7, 2012	FORM	Sale	$19,208	−17.7%	−38.5%	−40.5%
August 16, 2011	August 15, 2011	FORM	Sale	$44,300	−26.7%	−54.2%	−55.1%
May 5, 2011	May 3, 2011	FORM	Sale	$27,145	−5.4%	−42.0%	−38.6%
May 3, 2011	April 29, 2011	FORM	Sale	$12,778	−3.7%	−39.9%	−50.7%
February 7, 2011	February 4, 2011	FORM	Sale	$19,855	+9.3%	−47.2%	−48.6%

Open-market purchases and sales of at least $10,000 in companies we cover, from SEC Form 4 filings; sales made under a pre-set Rule 10b5-1 plan are not shown. “Not yet” means the window has not finished or the share price was under $5 at entry. These are the shares’ moves after each trade: they say nothing about why Merkadeau Stuart L traded and do not suggest the use of non-public information. How every insider compares · the insider trading backtest.